What 404 error means
A few 404s are normal, but broken links from your own pages or from popular old URLs waste visitors and lost link value. Redirect valuable old URLs and make your 404 page helpful with search and key links. Search Console reports the ones Google finds.
Why it matters for your website
A visitor who lands on a dead page often leaves instead of hunting for what they wanted, which can mean a lost lead or sale. A few 404s are normal and do not harm rankings on their own, but broken links on important pages waste the traffic and links you worked to earn.
Example
A roofing company deletes an old blog post that still gets links from a local news site. Readers clicking that link land on a 404 page with a search box and links to the company's main services.
Tips
- Design a friendly 404 page with search, top links and a clear way to contact you.
- Check Search Console regularly for important URLs returning 404 errors.
- Redirect deleted pages that still get traffic or backlinks to the closest relevant page.
Common mistakes
- Showing a generic server error page with no navigation, leaving visitors stuck.
- Returning a 200 status on a 'not found' page, which Google may flag as a soft 404.
Questions about 404 error
What is 404 error?
The "page not found" response a server returns when a URL does not exist.
Do 404 errors hurt my Google rankings?
Google has said 404s are a normal part of the web and do not hurt your site's overall ranking. The real cost is lost visitors and wasted links when a page that mattered disappears.
How do I find broken links on my website?
Google Search Console lists URLs it found returning 404. Site crawler tools and many SEO plugins can also scan your site and flag broken internal and external links.
